Dance Your Worries Away! How Dancing Helps Relieve Stress

Dancing is so much more than moving your feet to that rhythm and swaying to the music. It is more than just moving your hips and waving your hands. Dancing is a way to express yourself not only to others but to yourself as well. Not only a way of emotional expression, but you can use dance to relieve stress too!

By “dancing it out” you’re not only releasing your frustrations and anger but you’re also releasing the stress and worries with every move you do.

“Dancing is surely the most basic and relevant of all forms of expression. Nothing else can so effectively give outward form to an inner experience.” – Lyall Watson

Dancing helps you stay not only physically fit and healthy, but it also keeps your mental and emotional health strong. By dancing your worries away, you are not only relieving the tension in your body and mind but you also gain self-esteem, confidence, and a way to express yourself – emotionally.

If you’re not a fan of traditional physical exercises, like me, then you’ll find dancing an amazing and effective alternative to those exercises.

For many people dancing is just a hobby. Something they do when they want to unwind. But have you noticed that these people, over time, become happier and more relaxed after they dance? They use dance to relieve stress and this habit of engaging in regular dancing can be good for overall well-being.

Dance as a stress reliever is a great technique, so let’s take a look at how you can use this technique well in your daily routine to relieve stress.

How Can Dancing Help Relieve Stress?

Dance is an activity that works just like any other physical activity would. When we dance, our brain releases endorphins, the happy hormones, that help in reducing stress and makes us feel calm, relaxed, and happy.

1. Improves Mood & Focus

Dancing regularly can help you enhance your mood and improve your concentration skills. Dance as a stress reliever allows our bodies to release endorphins, which help us feel happy, enhance our pleasure and reduce pain.

Endorphins are our body’s natural painkillers that help reduce stress and improve our focus. After a good workout, our body feels calm and relaxed – all thanks to endorphins. And who’s to say that dancing isn’t a workout.

2. Provides A Creative Outlet

Too much stress – at work or at home – can make us feel trapped in our bodies. More often than not, this can either lead us to snap at our loved ones or shut ourselves from feeling emotions.

Dancing offers a creative and emotional outlet to help people express themselves without causing harm to themselves or others. With the help of the right music and movement, you can display your emotions artistically and productively.

3. Soothes Muscle & Joint Aches

When our body feels good, our mind feels good too. Any or all forms of dancing from ballet to Kathak help in strengthening and soothing muscle and joint aches in the body.

Stiffness can cause pain and it can be caused by sitting for long periods. People who exercise regularly and even athletes can experience stiff muscles. Dancing helps in relieving those aches and pains while also regaining muscle strength and flexibility.

4. Improves Physical Health

From weight loss to building muscles, dancing can help improve physical health. As mentioned before, dancing is a workout that can help people stay fit and healthy mentally and physically. This activity is helpful for people of all ages. Dancing can also help:

• Improve heart and lung health
• Increase stamina
• Improve balance and coordination
• Improve self-confidence and increase self-esteem
• Improve mental strength and performance

5. Improves Social Skills

Hanging out with friends and people with like-minded ideas can help increase your emotional health and reduce the levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. Friends, especially, are proven to improve your overall well-being, boost your mood, and reduce stress.

What sounds much better, dancing alone or dancing with your friends? For me, dancing with my friends makes me feel much better and more relaxed than dancing alone does.

6. Helps To Unwind

Dancing puts you in a meditative state that can feel more relaxing and calmer than meditating while sitting still. If you’re a person who doesn’t like to sit still for meditation, dancing is a wonderful alternative for you. When you’re dancing, all your focus is on your breathing, movements, and performance.

This process can help you unwind after a rough day. And if you’re dancing with your partner, all the good! What better way to feel connected with your partner and at the same time relax than swaying to the music?

7.Helps Boost Flexibility

Not just helping relieve joint pain and aches, dancing can help boost flexibility. Many forms of dancing allow your limbs to stretch which can improve your body flexibility. So, it’s not only yoga you need to boost flexibility anymore!

The more you’re flexible, the less your chances get of risking injury. One of the dance forms that can work best for flexibility is ballet. Ballet dancing can help improve your mobility and make your daily activities more pleasant.

8.Helps Improve Heart Health

Like any other aerobic activity, dancing can be a great way to improve your heart health. In a 2016 study, it was found that people who engaged in activities such as dancing were 45% (approximately) less likely to develop heart disorders. In contrast, regular exercise like walking brought those chances down to 25%.

This 2016 study also found that dancing as a social activity brought relaxation and when your relaxation level increased, you’re likely to feel healthy – body and mind.

9.Helps With Weight Management

Dancing as a stress reliever is a good choice but did you know that dancing can also act as a good weight management activity? Up-tempo dancing can burn more calories and energy. Whatever dance style you choose and your BMI might be important factors to consider here.

Depending on your body weight, at least 30 minutes of dancing can burn between 90–200 calories. So, if you’re looking to lose weight but also want to avoid the gym culture, you can pick dancing as a weight-loss activity.

10.Helps Prevent Memory Loss

There have been studies that suggest that dancing as an activity can help reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Out of other physical activities such as walking, bicycling, swimming, etc., dancing is an exercise that can be associated with a lower risk of memory loss and disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.

So, not only can dancing relieve stress but can also prevent cognitive disorders. What are you waiting for, then!? Looking for an activity that not only encourages physical activity but cognitive health as well? Go dancing!

Final Words

Dancing is an activity that requires a person to fully immerse themselves in their movements and music at the moment. Engaging in activities that make you feel happy can help you not only reduce stress, anxiety, and worries but can also provide you with an outlet to express your emotions and feelings artistically and productively.

There are times when life can become overwhelming and stressful making you look for an escape from it all. Some people choose to meditate, some choose to go to the gym, and some people choose to dance.

When you use dance as a stress reliever, it releases endorphins that help you experience pleasure and happiness. Dance is a language that helps people express their emotions and get in touch with themselves while improving their mental and physical health.

So the next time you feel stressed, close your eyes and let those muscles loose while swaying away with the music.

“Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free.” – Rumi

I hope this article helped you understand how dance relieves stress. For more, you can write to us at info@calmsage.com or DM us on social media. You can also share your favorite dance forms or dancers you admire that you’d like to share with us in the comments below.

When in doubt, dance it out!